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A Start in Life-Part22_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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Oscar departed with the full intention of distinguishing himself in

this little skirmish,--the first affair entrusted to him since his



installation as second clerk.

After the departure of Georges and Oscar, Godeschal sounded the new



clerk to discover the joke which, as he thought, lay behind this

Marquise de las Florentinas y Cabirolos. But Frederic, with the



coolness and gravity of a king's attorney, continued his cousin's

hoax, and by his way of answering, and his manner generally, he



succeeded in making the office believe that the marquise might really

be the widow of a Spanish grandee, to whom his cousin Georges was



paying his addresses. Born in Mexico, and the daughter of Creole

parents, this young and wealthy widow was noted for the easy manners



and habits of the women of those climates.

"She loves to laugh, she loves to sing, she loves to drink like me!"



he said in a low voice, quoting the well-known song of Beranger.

"Georges," he added, "is very rich; he has inherited from his father



(who was a widower) eighteen thousand francs a year, and with the

twelve thousand which an uncle has just left to each of us, he has an



income of thirty thousand. So he pays his debts, and gives up the law.

He hopes to be Marquis de las Florentinas, for the young widow is



marquise in her own right, and has the privilege of giving her titles

to her husband."



Though the clerks were still a good deal undecided in mind as to the

marquise, the double perspective of a breakfast at the Rocher de



Cancale and a fashionablefestivity put them into a state of joyous

expectation. They reserved all points as to the Spanish lady,



intending to judge her without appeal after the meeting.

The Marquise de las Florentinas y Cabirolos was neither more nor less



than Mademoiselle Agathe-Florentine Cabirolle, first danseuse at the

Gaiete, with whom uncle Cardot was in the habit of singing "Mere



Godichon." A year after the very reparable loss of Madame Cardot, the

successful merchant encountered Florentine as she was leaving Coulon's



dancing-class. Attracted by the beauty of that choregraphic flower

(Florentine was then about thirteen years of age), he followed her to



the rue Pastourel, where he found that the future star of the ballet

was the daughter of a portress. Two weeks later, the mother and



daughter, established in the rue de Crussol, were enjoying a modest

competence. It was to this protector of the arts--to use the



consecrated phrase--that the theatre owed the brilliant danseuse. The

generous Maecenas made two beings almost beside themselves with joy in



the possession of mahogany furniture, hangings, carpets, and a regular

kitchen; he allowed them a woman-of-all-work, and gave them two



hundred and fifty francs a month for their living. Pere Cardot, with

his hair in "pigeon-wings," seemed like an angel, and was treated with



the attention due to a benefactor. To him this was the age of gold.

For three years the warbler of "Mere Godichon" had the wise policy to



keep Mademoiselle Cabirolle and her mother in this little apartment,

which was only ten steps from the theatre; but he gave the girl, out



of love for the choregraphic art, the great Vestris for a master. In

1820 he had the pleasure of seeing Florentine dance her first "pas" in



the ballet of a melodrama entitled "The Ruins of Babylon." Florentine

was then about sixteen. Shortly after this debut Pere Cardot became an



"old screw" in the eyes of his protegee; but as he had the sense to

see that a danseuse at the Gaiete had a certain rank to maintain, he



raised the monthly stipend to five hundred francs, for which, although

he did not again become an angel, he was, at least, a "friend for



life," a second father. This was his silver age.

From 1820 to 1823, Florentine had the experience of every danseuse of



nineteen to twenty years of age. Her friends were the illustrious

Mariette and Tullia, leading ladies of the Opera, Florine, and also



poor Coralie, torn too early from the arts, and love, and Camusot. As

old Cardot had by this time acquired five additional years, he had



fallen into the indulgence of a semi-paternity, which is the way with

old men towards the young talents they have trained, and which owe



their success to them. Besides, where could he have found another

Florentine who knew all his habits and likings, and with whom he and



his friends could sing "Mere Godichon"? So the little old man remained

under a yoke that was semi-conjugal and also irresistibly strong. This



was the brass age for the old fellow.




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